The offer lands on a Tuesday, you accept it on Thursday and, before the week is out, someone from HR is asking when you can start. That’s how many international moves for work begin: with a fixed date at the other end and very little room for everything else.
What sets this kind of relocation apart from a move you’ve chosen at your own pace is exactly that, the clock. Your company expects you to arrive rested and ready, your family needs to know what happens with the house and the schools, and your furniture can’t travel in whatever gap happens to be left over. Planning an international move for work is, above all, about sorting out decisions in the right order.
Table of contents
- What an international move for work actually is
- First things first: talk to your company
- A timeline built backwards
- The employee’s paperwork and the move’s paperwork
- What to take, what to store and what to leave behind
- Choosing shipping based on your start date
- Your first days at the new destination
- Start your move with the plan locked in
What an international move for work actually is
An international move for work is the relocation of your home and belongings to another country because that’s where you’ll be carrying out your professional activity, whether through a new contract, a temporary posting by your company or a long-term expat assignment. Unlike other country changes, the timeline is set by a third party, the employer, who often also covers part of the costs.
That dual dependency changes everything. It’s not enough to know how many cubic metres you’ll be shipping: you need to know who approves the quote, what your contract covers and until which day you can stay in your current home.
First things first: talk to your company
Before you request a single quote, sit down with HR and get in writing exactly what your relocation includes. Many companies offer a relocation package covering the move, a few weeks of temporary accommodation, the family’s travel or house-hunting support. Others simply hand over a fixed amount and leave the rest to you.
It’s worth asking about the limits: maximum volume, whether a storage unit is included, whether they pay to ship your car, what insurance they require and whether they already work with a specific removals company. Also what happens if your start date slips. It sounds like a lot, but a half-hour conversation prevents arguments over invoices months down the line.
When it’s the company itself organising the relocation of its staff, there’s a dedicated service for exactly that. At Mudanzas Trallero, the corporate relocation service is designed for precisely this scenario: coordination with HR, document handling at origin and destination, and support so the employee and their family can settle in. If this is your case, it’s worth making sure your company knows about it.
A timeline built backwards
The most common mistake is to start at the beginning, that is, with the boxes. In a work relocation the starting point is your start date, and you work backwards from there.
If you start work on the 1st, when do you need a bed, a table and seasonal clothes at the destination? Will you spend the first few weeks in temporary accommodation? When does your rental contract end, or when does the sale of your flat close? With those three or four dates on the table, you can already decide when the truck or container gets loaded, how long the shipment needs to arrive and whether intermediate storage is required.
Our recommendation is to book the pre-move survey as soon as you have a signed offer. That survey is used to measure the real volume, spot items needing special packing and fine-tune timings that, on a long sea shipment, are counted in weeks.
If you’re moving with family, the school calendar usually weighs as heavily as the work one. Switching the kids to a new school mid-term is possible, but it pays to find out as early as you can whether the place at the new school is confirmed and whether the family will travel with you or a few weeks later. In that second case, it sometimes makes sense to split the move into two shipments, a minimal one for you and a full one when the rest of the household arrives.
The employee’s paperwork and the move’s paperwork
There are two separate folders here that a lot of people mix up. The first is yours as an employee: contract, residence or work permit if you’re heading outside the European Union, social security and registration in the new country.
If your company posts you temporarily to another EU country and you keep paying contributions in Spain, you’ll need the certificate of applicable legislation, the A1 form. For posted workers it has a maximum duration of 24 months and is usually requested by the employer from Spain’s Social Security Treasury (TGSS). If instead you sign a local contract, you’ll move onto the destination country’s system. And if you stay more than three months in another EU state, you’ll typically have to register as a resident, with your ID or passport and a certificate from the company hiring you.
The second folder is the move’s. Among the documents you should have ready for an international move are the valued inventory, a copy of your passport, the employment or rental contract at the destination and, if you’re leaving the EU, the customs forms each country requires. The key is to have both folders ready at the same time, because customs often ask for proof that you’re relocating for work reasons.
What to take, what to store and what to leave behind
A work destination isn’t always permanent. If the contract is for two or three years, it may not make sense to ship the sofa you bought a year ago or your entire bookshelf. The less volume, the lower the cost and the more freedom to choose how you ship.
A practical way to decide is to split your belongings into three groups. The first holds what you need from day one. The second, what you’d like to have there, even if it can wait a few weeks. The third, what you want to keep but won’t use during the assignment. That last group can go into a storage unit until you return or until you know whether you’re staying.
Check your appliances too. Some countries use a different voltage or different plugs, and shipping a washing machine you then can’t plug in is an expensive mistake. The same goes for certain bulky pieces of furniture that may not fit in a furnished rental flat.
Once you’ve made your selection, prepare an inventory with the approximate value of each batch. It’ll serve for your transport insurance, for customs if you’re leaving the EU and, no less important, to check on arrival that everything travelled with you. A good inventory saves a lot of phone calls.
Choosing shipping based on your start date
The shipping method depends on three variables: destination, volume and urgency. By road you can reach much of Europe on regular routes, and it’s the natural choice for moves within the continent. Sea freight in a container works out cheaper for large volumes or far-off destinations, though it means accepting longer lead times. Air freight, more expensive, fits when you need few things and need them fast.
In a work relocation it’s common to combine two methods: a small air shipment with the essentials for the first few weeks and the bulk of the move by sea or road. Before deciding, take your time comparing the advantages of sea, air or road transport in a move abroad based on your volume and your destination.
Your first days at the new destination
Arriving in another country with a new job that starts on Monday leaves little room for admin. This is where destination support makes the difference: someone to help you understand the rental contract, open a bank account, enrol the kids or simply know which office to go to.
Relocation services exist to cover that stretch, and it’s worth arranging them before you leave, not once you’re already there. If your company doesn’t include them, at least consider dedicating the days before you start to receiving the move and getting the house up and running. Working through your first week surrounded by sealed boxes is more exhausting than it sounds.
Another practical tip: agree with your company on a delivery date with some slack relative to your start date. A container can be delayed at port and a customs inspection can drag out clearance. If you build in that margin from the start, the unexpected won’t catch you with an empty house.
Start your move with the plan locked in
An international move for work goes well when it’s decided early and with information: what your company pays, when you have to be there, what paperwork you need and which part of your life travels with you. The rest is logistics, and logistics can be delegated.
At Mudanzas Trallero we’re part of the FIDI international network and we organise shipments by sea, road and air, with customs handling, insurance and destination service. If you already have a start date, tell us about your situation: Plan your work relocation with specialist support and start your new job with the house in order.
